By Staff Writer: Tricia Tucker

Escape Plan is directed by Mikael Hafstrom and stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.  It was released on Oct. 18 at major theaters and has a duration period of 116 minutes.

This movie is filled with action and suspense.  If a viewer has seen the trailer, they know the majority of the movie minus the ending.  The trailer tells everything needed to know about the plot.

Stallone plays Ray Breslin, an expert at breaking out of extremely secure prisons.  He poses as a fictional criminal to prove that their most secure facilities can be escaped.  He accepts a deal for $5 million to test the security of CIA black site (a prison for the most dangerous criminals out there) that has an anonymous location that is not to be revealed to him or his associates.  He is trapped there, and he must create a diabolical plan to escape before the guards cause his death to beat him to it.

Although the privately ran facility has the most advanced, trained security guards out there, it appears very unrealistic when they can’t seem to aim straight.  As Breslin attempts to escape, in reality he would have been shot and dead toward the beginning.  But, he seems to dodge each bullet being thrown toward him, even when it’s the entire security versus him and a few others.  This causes the scenes to appear extremely unrealistic.

Aside from being extremely involved with the plot, viewers are often found looking at their phone to see how much time is left.  The movie is very long and seems as if it goes on forever.  The plot drags on and stretched farther than it should have been.

Throughout the movie, the viewer can never tell who is on which side.  There is no way to be completely sure who is lying, and who is being truthful.  Friendships are made but it is never confirmed if it is a “real” friendship, or if they are using each other. This adds extreme suspense to the plot.  While watching, the audience continuously asks themselves, “What’s he going to do next?” and “Is he going to turn on his friend?”  Viewers find themselves asking a variety of questions that are not to be answered until the close of the movie.  This suspense keeps the audience on their toes and at the end of their chair.

All of the actors are extremely talented throughout the movie.  Not only is the acting amazing, but the fighting scenes are extremely realistic.  Along with the guns, there is stabbing, punching, shoving, and kicking.  Now, we all know that the fighting is completely staged.  But, it appears so real that the audience will actually feel as if they are there.  Throughout the entirety of the movie there is action and suspense.  Viewers find themselves getting so into the plot that they feel as if they are actually there.  Nothing distracts them from that large screen at the front of the room.

Overall, Escape Plan was a well directed movie.  The plot was interesting, the actors were fabulous, and the entirety of the movie was extremely suspenseful and intense.  Expect a twist at the end with Stallone’s and Schwarzenegger’s characters. This movie is well worth its cost and worth every penny of it.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI4EjV_x_PQ&w=560&h=315]